Dodgers' Hanley Ramirez set to play consecutive days in the playoffs

Bill Shaikin

When the Dodgers play the first two games of the playoffs next week, they will ask shortstop Hanley Ramirez to do something he has not done in two weeks: start on consecutive days.

Ramirez, the Dodgers' cleanup hitter, has played in barely half the team's games. He has been on the disabled list twice this season, because of thumb and hamstring injuries, and the Dodgers now are trying to manage him through nerve irritation in his back.

He has not started consecutive games since Sept. 12 and 13. He did not start Friday. Manager Don Mattingly said Ramirez would start Saturday but made no commitment about Sunday.

Mattingly said he was confident Ramirez would be able to play every game in October.

"I don't think there's any doubt, unless something goes wrong," Mattingly said. "I'm sure he's not going to want to come out once we get there. He'll accept all of this knowing this gives him the best chance to play every day" in the postseason.

The San Francisco Giants delivered a 2012 World Series championship ring to Brian Wilson late Thursday night, after the Dodgers reliever confronted Giants President Larry Baer in the on-field owners' box following Thursday's game at AT&T Park.

"I got my ring," Wilson said Friday at Dodger Stadium. "It's of no one's concern. It was handled.

"I'm not asking America to understand. I don't play games. I handled the situation. It's over with. It's squashed."

Baer told San Francisco radio station KNBR that Wilson had declined the Giants' invitation to the ring ceremony in April and had traded messages with the team officials who had tried to arrange delivery since then.

"He didn't want anything other than to take the ring on the bus with him," Baer said.

Outfielder Andre Ethier is testing his sore left ankle with extended workouts at the Dodgers' Arizona training facility. Mattingly said he expects Ethier to rejoin the team Monday, after which he would be evaluated for possible inclusion on the Dodgers' National League division series roster.

The Dodgers will take Monday off, then fly to either Atlanta or St. Louis on Tuesday. The Dodgers need not set their division series roster until Thursday, the day of Game 1.